Faith, History and Legacy
100+ Years
St Augustine’s church dates from 1916 and is the only church in south east England designed by the great Victorian architect Temple Moore.
St Augustine’s came about by a combination of spiritual need and a vision for the area in which it is situated.
Originally a Mission Church, known colloquially as the “Iron Church”, was established on the site in 1911 and this was later brick clad and reroofed to form the present Church Hall.
The Rochester Diocesan Society was very supportive of the project and paid the first incumbent’s salary.
St Augustine’s celebrated its centenary in 2016 during which some acknowledgement was made of the changes in Temple Moore’s fine building over the previous 100 years.
Principal to these was the reordering that took place post a fire in 1992 that saw extensive smoke damage to some of the north side of the building to a height of around 2.5 metres with significant smoke impact on much of the internal fabric.
Now, as we move further into the second century of the church, we are excited by new community missional challenges, how we modernise some of our facilities to meet local community needs and regenerate use of the huge space in the church.
History in Pictures
